I recently saw a blog comment talking about the importance of Christian Evangelism because the end of the world was near.
Ugh. I remember growing up thinking that Jesus was going to return any day now. When I was growing up, there was a period of time when rapture movies were popular in the local churches. You’d go and watch these movies at church with names like “A Thief in the Night”. Funny the things you can find on YouTube:
I remember being around second or third grade, coming home from school, and noticing that my parents weren’t home. I was genuinely afraid that the rapture happened, and I was left behind. My Christian school-teacher had a bumper sticker on her car that read “In case of rapture, this car will be left unoccupied”. Now, it all seems so cult-like. It reminds me of fears the Heavens Gate followers had of missing the UFO behind Hale-Bop, or the fears the Branch Davidians had of leaving the compound, for fear that they wouldn’t be raptured up to heaven with David Koresh. But, it was a part of my Christian fundamentalist worldview.
Oddly enough, American Dad had a recent episode revolving around Stan and Francine missing the rapture. (The creator, Seth MacFarlane is an atheist, by the way.) Enjoy.
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What’s with the woman smiling and winking at one of the young men, near the end of the Thief in the Night clip? Maybe she’s the only one there who knows that the rapture is a bunch of baloney?
My guess is that she’s playing the role of some kind of sinful temptress. I’m sure everyone in the film fell into some kind of stereotyped role, like an after-school special.
– the faithful (who were raptured),
– the sinful kid who got tempted by the world, got left behind and regretted it,
– the “bad person” who’s deep in their own sin, and draws other people into it